Earth Day Update

What a fun few weeks! In science and social studies we have learned about our Earth's surface, how it changes and then moved into what natural resources Mother Earth provides for us. We learned about renewable and non-renewable resources, fossile fules and about the 3 R's: reduce, reuse and recycle. In class student's collaborated together in small groups to come up with ideas and ways to conserve resources and energy both at home and at school and then presented their ideas to their classmates. To culminate this unit students and their families worked together to create their own recycling project. They were aloud to use any thing that they would regularly throw away and create something brand new. Creativity and imaginations ran wild with projects that ranged from collage art to musical instruments, clothing and accessories to bird feeders and robots.

This is how we communicate!

Over the past few weeks we have done many things.

In Social Studies this past week we learned all about how we can communicate. "Lots of years ago people couldn't have telephones so they could write a letter." said CL. "A long time ago people used smoke signals." said SZ. "A long time ago when people didn't know how to talk they used sign language." said MS. People who are unable to use their voices and talk now a days still use sign language. KJS reminded all of us that people who do not have enough time to write and send a letter can type an email. Our class even learned about how to communicate with a blog and as you can see, they helped to write this blog post.

In math class both Kindergarten and 1st grade finished learning about probability. MH said, "In math class we put X's next to things that were certain or impossible." "We spun the spinner." said CL. We also found out when events were more likely or less likely to happen. After we finished our probability chapter our 1st grade students started their very last 1st grade chapter on adding and subtracting using 2-digit numbers. Kindergarten started their in-depth unit on adding and subtracting 1-digit numbers.

This past week in Reading we focused our study around inventions. Our reading skills were questioning and identifying cause and effect. We continue to use questioning strategies as we read and are practicing how we can take what the author tells us and what we already know to make an inference.

In science we finished a plant unit where we explored plant life around our school and cultivated it in our classroom. We took a school yard plant walk where we collected different leafs and then made leaf rubbings and compared the shape, size and texture of leafs. We also took a non-living scoring pad added some grass seed on top and watered to create our own four-leaf-clover patched size of grass. Our plant study ended by learning all about the different parts of the plant and their function. Currently in science we are studying our Earth's surface and the changes that take place on the surface. Here is a free brainpopjr that tells about quick changes that you may want to check out.

Getting Ready to Travel

I would like to start out with a reminder that Samsula's Spring Break will begin for Students at the end of the school day Thursday. Friday is a Teacher Work Day. I hope everyone will enjoy their breaks and return rested and ready to learn!

In Social Studies we are going to learn about all of the different means of travel we have today. As well as the evolution travel has made over time. Today is a fast paced world and we travel quickly, too. This week students will compare and contrast early travel to the travel of today.

In Mathematics on Friday we began to look at the concepts of factions -- breaking a whole into equal parts. Over this next week we will spend time with both Kindergarten and 1st grade learning about halves (1/2 one out of 2), quarters (1/4 one out of four) and thirds (1/3 one out of three). This is going to be a fun concept with a lot of hands-on activities as well as paper and pencil to reinforce.

The time has arrived! Next week our Kindergarten students will begin studying the 1st grade unit 1 reading curriculum. Kindergarten will be reading Pam and Sam in class and will use this story to build upon their knowledge of characters and setting. We will still continue our short /i/ word family study. First grade is moving on up through the curriculum as well and has received their last reading anthology book that will take us through the last two units. This next week 1st graders will be reading Olivia in class. As we read this story and others we will learn about fantasy and reality. 1st grade's phonics and spelling is based on the long /o/ sound spelled o, oa, ow. Spelling words related to phonics are: boat, coat, go, low, now and row. High frequency words to know are: mother, father, try, always, love, firm and supposed.

In Language Arts we will continue our Writer's Workshop and have more mini-lessons on this month's writing theme -- poetry. Last week we were introduced to the idea of writing poetry and learned about many types of poems. We practiced writing acrostic poems. This week we will take a better look at "shape" or concrete poems. Below is a Kindergarten example of presenting writing during our bi-monthly Author's Day.

Awesome Achievers!

I am so proud of our awesome achievers in the classroom!

Over the past few weeks Kindergarten has been making the transition into First Grade curriculum and assessments. Currently Kindergarten is completing math work on the first grade level as well as completing the accompanying assessments. Next week our 6 Kindergarten students will start the first grade reading curriculum as well as continuing their work with weekly word families and sight words.

Our First graders are also achieving above and beyond. Over the month of March 1st grade will finish their math curriculum and then move into the second grade curriculum focusing on an in-depth study of addition and subtraction with regrouping.

Currently in math both grade levels are studying time. We just finished our clock reading unit and will move into calendar time and elapsed time this week. Students will learn that the calendar reminds us of specific dates while is also keeps track of much larger units of time like a week, month and year.

Science is extra exciting with a hands-on experiment planned for this Wednesday. We are studying living and non-living objects and their characteristics. We have made lists of objects predicting if they are living or non living. We will discuss the most common characteristics of living things and their non-living counterparts. In our upcoming experiment we will look at the relationship between some living and nonliving items and conclude this unit on Friday.

Our new and improved literacy program is having more success than I could have ever thought possible. Recently I had a student who, at the beginning of the year, did not seem to find joy in writing ask me, "Can we have writing again this afternoon?" He went on to confess that writing was now his favorite subject. Below is a slide show of what our Writer's Workshop looks like.

Students are using their own creativity and personal experiences to express themselves and what they know through writing. The children choose their own topics to write about as well as their genre. I suport this process through mini-lessons and teacher conferences with students daily. After they publish their works they have the opportunity, twice each month, to present their works and share them with a real audience, our class, just like any other published author would do.

In reading our modified Daily 5 is really increasing student choice and some fun hands on activities. Just this week we are adding a new word work into the mix where students practice their spelling words and typing skills on the computer. First graders are using Microsoft Word to type their spelling words as well as using magnetic letters, pipe cleaners, and molding dough to build and practice phonics. I have also seen an increase in independent reading stamina, the length and focus given to reading a particular book. Comprehension has increased through this personalized reading and skills lessons taught weekly.

I am so incredibly proud of all of the students in the classroom and the achievements they are making daily. I am excited to see them continue to grow and learn through the last 12 weeks of school and prepare them with the solid foundation necessary for their next grade level.

Miss Ellis

K-1

P.S.

Here is a look into some of the fun 100th day counting activities that took place during my Odyssey Hiatus.

The Odyssey Hiatus is Complete

My blog updating hiatus is over! This past month I finished up my after school Odyssey of the Mind club when we took part in the Magic Center Regional Competition. Odyssey of the Mind is a wonderful hands-on program that is gauged to increase problem solving and creative, critical thinking. Students participate in solving longterm and spontaneous problems. This program allows participants the opportunity to think outside of the box and use personal expertise and expression while learning life long problem solving skills.

Currently Samsula does not have a team for students grades K-2 and we would like to make this happen in the future. Anyone can coach, even parents! If you want to know more or are interested in Odyssey, check out their website.

I would like to take this time to congratulate my team on their 3rd place achievement at the Regional Magic Center Competition held in Orlando, Fl. Way to go team!

Field Study and Exploring Personal Choices

What a great week we had! We prepared for our field trip to the Barberville Pioneer Art Settlement, spending some time learning about the early American and Pioneer life style only to get to experience it first hand. It was a fun learning day where the students participated in hands on activities such as candle making, butter making, spinning, weaving, farming and word working. Below is a look into the past where our class participated in all of these things on our wonderful field study!

I would like to take this time to thank all of the wonderful parents who participated in this field trip and made it possible.

In other news a congratulations are in order for our Kindergarten students. This past week we studied our very first word family, the -an family, and took our very first spelling test. None of the words were sent home to study, but were covered in class and every single one of the students showed mastery of reading, writing and spelling the words chosen from that word family. This week we will be working with the -ap family found in words such as map and tap.

Since this is a week 6 review week in our reading curriculum I have decided to use this week to implement some new teaching practices that allow for more creativity and enhanced meaningful and personal student achievement in literacy. Today was our first day starting a Writer's Workshop. Within the Writer's Workshop you can expect your child to think of and write about their own ideas and in the formats that they prefer. The students will learn about the full writing process from brainstorming through drafting, peer conferencing, teacher conferencing and creating a final writing piece. All of this writing will be supported by mini-lessons on different genre writing and an emphasis on grammar and techniques.

As a counterpart to writing I will also be implementing some of the techniques of the Daily 5 in our reading class. The daily 5 focuses literacy instruction through 5 components in the classroom. Those components are 1. reading to self, 2. reading to someone, 3. listening to reading, 4. working on writing (writers workshop), and 5. spelling/word work. All of these essential literacy components will be worked on each day along with specific skill instruction from myself. As the students and myself become more comfortable with the new approach to teaching and learning literacy the students will be able to explore self directed learning by choosing reading books and reading "best-fit" books and also creating and working towards meeting their own reading goals.

In mathematics Kindergarten has finished their number study, reading, writing and counting orally to 100. This week we begin our unit on measurement which will be followed by time and money. This week we will focus on specific concepts such as length, weight and capacity. In first grade we continue to practice our addition and subtraction facts daily and are now working with larger numbers and therefore larger sums and differences.

In science we will be reviewing movement and studying more in-depth how movement can be affected, increased, changed and stopped.

As always I am looking forward to another great week here at Samsula Academy!

Miss Ellis

A New Year and a New Week

Happy New Years to all and welcome back!

Now that we are all back from our winter vacations we are jumping right back into the thick of it and are hitting the ground full seed. In first grade math this week we are furthering our understanding of addition and subtraction. We are adding more than 2 numbers and using multiple methods to solve mathematical problems. In Kindergarten we are reviewing number 0-90 and will be working our way up to 100 by the end of the week.

This week our reading unit focuses on families and we are reading a play called Smile, Mike! in reading class. We are focusing on generating questions to ensure understanding while reading. Our comprehension skill for the week is making predictions and confirming them. First grade spelling is on long /i/ words spelled i-e. Spelling words for the week are: bike, hide, like, mine, ride, and spike. Spelling words can also include previously learned spelling words and high frequency words. First grade high frequency words to know are: how, there, so, more, funny, and call. Kindergarten is currently reviewing short vowel sounds this week in reading. Kindergarten sight words for the week are: ride, saw, say, she, and so.

In social studies we are preparing for our first field trip to the Barberville Pioneer Arts Settlement on Thursday January the 13th, 2011. We are learning about the life style of Pioneers and how that life style is similar and different to our own today. We are very excited for this trip and I remind you that field trip permission forms and money are due the beginning of next week.

As always I am looking forward to another fun week of learning with your children!

Miss Ellis